the season comes down to one game. that's fwreat. >> okay. it is time to go. >> okay. it's way too early. what time is it? stick around for chuck live from denver. >> good morning. style and substance. mitt romney delivers and making republicans wondering where that guy has been during these many long months of the general election. as for the president, he was subdued and surprised by not attacking mitt romney more. never uttering words like bayne, bush, or 47%. it's going to be a long two weeks before the next debate in new york for team obama.

and of course, it all happened right here in battleground, colorado. it's a state that's been trending quickly from red to purple in recent years. will the first debate keep it from going blue again for the president and going back to red? good morning again from the university of denver. thursday, october 4th. 2012. this is "daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. a big hour ahead, including daily reaction from orrin hatch, governor martin o'malley and many more. let's get to the first read of the morning. in what may be the most substantive debate in the era of televised presidential debates. mitt romney performed as if his campaign depended on it, while a surprisingly subdued president obama allowed his challenger to dictate the terms of the debate. from the start, romney displayed confidence and demanding the presence on stage. he oned up the president on his own wedding anniversary shoutout. >> i want to wish you, sweetie,

happy anniversary. >> congratligss on your anniversary. i'm sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine, here with me. >> that set the tone as romney seemed to control the tempo. sometimes serving as the moderator himself. >> let's get back to medicare. the president began this segment. so i get the last word. >> you're going to get the first word of the next segment. >> he gets the first word of that segment. i get the last word of the segment. >> it didn't take long for the deep philosophical agreements to come through. first on taxes where the president pressed romney on what he characterized as a $5 trillion tax cuts. >> he's saying he's going to pay for it by closing loopholes and deductions. the problem is he's been asked over 100 times how to close the

deductions and loopholes and he hasn't been able to identify them. >> virtually everything he said about the tax plan is enaccurate. if it were a tax plan i was asked to support, i would say absolutely not. i'm not looking for a $5 trillion tax cuts. i said i won't put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. >> for 18 months, he's been running on this tax plan, and now, five weeks before the election, he's saying his big bold idea is never mind. >> let me repeat what i said. i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. that's not my plan. >> it dominated the deficit reduction part of the debate as the president reached back to an iconic moment from the primaries. >> governor romney stood on the stage with other republican candidates for the nomination, and he was asked, would you take $10 of spending cuts for just $1 of revenue. and he said no. >> you've been president four

years. you said you would cut the deficit in half. it's four years later. you raised taxes and you killed jobs. the rev new i get is by more people working, getting higher pay, paying more taxes. >> much to the chagrin of more liberal members shlg the president didn't mention bayne capital. didn't question about his tax returns. somehow talked about the bush tax cuts without uttering the name bush. all lines of attack on the campaign pushing in tv ads and on the trail. the sharpest contrast was on medicare. though romney did try to blur the lines. >> neither the president nor i are proposing any changes for any current retirees or near retirees, either to social security or medicare. so if you're 60 or older, don't need to listen any further. >> you would turn medicare into a voucher program.

it's called premium support. it's understood to be a voucher program. >> and you don't support that? >> i don't. and let me explain why. >> again, that's for future people. not for current retirees. >> i dunce. so if you're 54 or 55. you might want to listen. >> that might have been the president's strongest rejoiner of the night. romney seemed to control many of the backs and forths, even the lighter moments. >> i'll get rid of it. obama care is on my list. i use that term with all respect. >> i like it. >> the difference in the debate demeanor is most evident at the end during the closing statements. >> you know, four years ago we were going through a major crisis. and yet my faith and confidence in the american future is

undiminished. four years ago i said i'm not a perfect man and wouldn't be a perfect president. that's a promise governor romney thinks i kept. i also promised that i would fight every single day on behalf of the american people. >> romney, a much crisper closing. >> kbrn this is bigger than an election about the two of us as individuals. it's bigger than our respective parties. it's an election about the course of america. i will keep america strong and get america's middle class working again. >> romney had a bounce in his step post debate. it looked like a genuine moment on stage. romney lingered after the president left and parted with a triumphant wave. got a rousing response from relieved partisans. if romney's goal for the first debate was to get a second look from voters, he succeeded. he was energetic and funny.

came across as knowledgeable. especially to those tuning in for the first time. a clear winner in a handful. responders pick him as the winner by 40 points. uncommitted voters polled by cbs news called romney the winner by a 2-1 margin. and 56% said the opinion of romney changed for the better after last fight. 13% said that about the president. ron allen sat down with a group of undecided voters and watched the debate in colorado just a few miles for the university of denver. here's what he found. >> how many of you were impressed by governor romney? how many of you saw something in governor romney that you hadn't seen before? generally speaking. >> ultimately i think he's very compassionate. he seems like his poll is are defensible. >> i'm impressed by governor romney. especially with the hard hit about lack of specifics. >> have any of you now made up

your mind? you're still all undecided. >> those stubborn undecided. you can hear more at 11:00 on msnbc. clearly for republicans who were thrilled to be in this room last night, this was a needed shot in the arm. and though the obama campaign has tried to argue romney's aggressive approach, the president governor came off more likable. >> were you satisfied with the performance? >> well, he's never satisfied. he's always challenging himself. >> i do think there's a sense of, you know, a dynamic shift in the campaign. i know there's a lot of talk about the style. governor romney was in command of the facts and had solutions. but he laid out a very clear choice. >> oning the debate is always a two part deal. the night itself and then the

aftermath. team obama with pressure to win the aftermath. they will draw attention to specific pledges that are mathematically difficult. his vow to keep any tax proposal deficit neutral. and then cutting taxes for the middle class. and then the obama campaign points out romney did not disagree that his medicare plan would consistent of vouchers for future retiree ls. white house adviser clark argued those positions will hurt romney in ohio and in florida in the long term in a couple of weeks. >> that's all that matters. in the battleground states.

[inaudible]. >> well, there you go. one presidential debate down. two more to go. during the 97 minutes of last night's debate, president obama had a slight advantage in speaking time. if you look closely at the kinds of words used or not used, you may be surprised. middle income was the favorite word for mitt romney. middle class was the preferred term for the president. terms that didn't come up. bain capital. 47%. contraception, abortion. and tax returns. jonathan martin from politico. i have one more statistic to put out. as somebody who has been with me having to cover obama for so long, obama had more air time speaking. guess who uttered 500 more words than the president last night? mitt romney. we did the check. 7,890 words. obama, 7,354. it goes to the ideas and

explains he was listless and a little bit, shall we say, he pondered a long time. >> we've seen him ponder a lot in the speeches. it was business consultant versus college professor. sort of harvard versus harvard. no question harvard business school versus harvard law school. no question that president obama showed his campaign has been doing the work for him and mitt romney has been doing the work for his campaign. we'll see what happens going forward. pout a question, the obama supporters were on their heels last night. were disappointed. wondering, where was this guy who they've been seeing in the tv commercials going so hard at mitt romney? he was clearly trying to be too presidential and not going after romney. >> we can't escape the fact. four of the last five incumbent presidents had lost the first debate. it's unbelievable. you have to say there is something to this. >> they're not used to being challenged in a way that he was for 90 minutes.

you alone command the stage. his performance style reminded me of a press conference in the white house where he grips the podium. he does these long answers. john f. kennedy used to do 15 questions in 30 minutes. >> one of those. he's so used to be being on home turf. i don't think he took romney that seriously. he is watching romney all year making all these blunders. he's saying, you know, this guy isn't that good. >> he's not that good. probably thinks similar campaign. similar candidate. >> i heard from count let obama people. we know there's an opportunity here to put this race away. we're going to be aggressive without looking overly

aggressive. that wasn't the case. >> it wasn't the case at all. i assume in his mind this was the fourth quarter. but they are going to have to retool and get ready for a second debate. we're not sure how much this is going to shift the conversation. but we know it will shift the conversation. we don't know how much it's going to move voters. they improved as the night went along. the sharpest difference in the closing arguments. was the president not prepared to give a quick punch like that? it makes you wonder how much takes he has to do the tv commercials in. they were so good ch he was not that sharp. he just seemed much more relaxed or at ease.

where do i end? there were a lot of republicans in the spin room who said to me -- >> the conversation that we had with the surrogates before the debate and after the debate could not have been more dichb in the room. before the debate, even the best team players were saying, we have to have a good showing tonight. there is talk among the impact of romney on the senate candidates that you mentioned. >> that's right. he eliminated that. john kerry in '04. >> this is somebody who proved he's going to run to the finish line last night. >> much more to come, special post debate edition of the daily rundown in denver. big supporters for both campaigns here to break down the debate. senator orrin hatch on behalf of mitt romney and governor mark

o'malley on behalf of president obama. president obama does two rallies. one in denver. one in madison, wisconsin. then heads home. mitt romney, nothing here. flies and joins paul ryan in virginia later today. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.

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my priority is putting people back to work in america. they're suffering in this country. and we talked about evidence. look at the evidence of the last four years. >> a lot of my colleagues are really encouraged by what they saw tonight.

i think they saw somebody ready to run this thing. it's going to be exciting the last four weeks of the campaign. >> mitt romney may have eased republican concerns with his sharp performance but it also asked members of his party asking where has he been? utah's republican senator orrin hatch who joins us on behalf of the romney campaign. good morning, senator. so let me ask you this question. where has this mitt romney been? >> i have to say, i don't think the coverage has been totally fair to him in the past months. but i know mitt very well. we know him better than anybody. he made the best winter olympics in the history of the movement and wind up with $100 million surplus.

he turned it around. balanced the budget all four years and did it with a state legislature 80% opposed to everything he did. >> you know a lot of the folks running for re-election. you're technically running for re-election. there were republican candidates, were there not? they feel better this morning? >> i think so. you have to understand, this was a great man. he is a fine man. we can't find a better family anywhere. they are typical of the american dream. >> i want to talk about texas tax plan. is he calling for a tax cut? last night he said he was not. he has not called for any taxes to be cut.

>> yes, he is for the middle class. a 20% reduction across the board and he's going to pay for it by solving tax loopholes. by tax expenditures. >> he also said he would not sign any tax deal. >> that's true. that's why you have the upsets that he's talking about. it's not going to be easy. it took three years to do it in the 1986 tax bill. it's not going to be easy here. i have to say, he outlined three ways to deal with trying to reduce the debt. he took one of them off there. you have to deal with two sides here. no taxes to deal with the deficit. is that the right thing? >> keep in mind, he made it very

clear that unlike this president, who i have to like as a person. i know him well. unlike president obama, he wants to work with congress. he knows he's not going to get anything done if he doesn't work with congress. >> but he drew a line there. is that a fuzzy line? >> i'm with it on the line. one thing that has to be made very clear is the wealthy will be paying just as much as they're paying now. >> but they shouldn't pay more. >> i thought one of the best lines is that basically we're tired of trickle down government. and he turned the tables on the president. we have the president who believes it will government is the last answer to everything.

do you think that is going to be a political liability in the state of florida? >> well, keep in mind, he brought up pretty forcefully that the president cut medicare. he also said that look, we are going to keep medicare exactly as it is for those 55 years or older. but we have to do something to help the young people. >> how is medicare going to work. >> welt, keep in mind what he said is they can choose to stay on regular health care or choose to get into the competitive world and purchase insurance that might be a lot less costly. now that's not a bad alternative. >> doesn't that cost the government more money? they're going to be stuck with the high risk folks? >> i doubt it. that's probably the other way to get things done. he knows we have to take care of high risk people. and we do in this country. it isn't like we ignore them?

>> okay, senator orrin hatch, thanks for being out here. love this region. >> i do, too. thank you, sir. >> denver defense. obama supporter governor martin o'malley will be here next. plus a preview of the day on wall street. first today's trivia question. since televised debate began in 1960, how many times has colorado not voted for the presidential winner? the first correct answer gets a follow up thursday.

you know, four years ago we were going through a major crisis. and yet, my faith and confidence in the americans' future is

undiminished. >> i'm concerned about the direction america has been taking over the last four years. >> four years ago i said i'm not a perfect man and i won be a perfect president. that's probably a promise governor romney thinks i kept. i also said i would promise every day on behalf of the american people. >> there's no question in my mind if the president is elected you'll see a middle class squeeze with incomes going down and prices going up. >> that was last night's closing statements. we merged them together. it was a microcosm of how the two men handled the night. mitt romney was passionate and energetic. the president was subdued and dispassionate. you called the president last night. said he had a dig any fighted reserve. >> i think one of the things we look for in our presidents is a

consistency. what you have not seen from mitt romney is consistency. you've seen a lot of shape shifting. last night was certainly an elevated performance. among then when he was governor of massachusetts hean had a dismal job creation record but racked up a huge deficit, increased spending. people can criticize one performance or another. i believe over the long term the president is well served by the dignified and reserved position. >> do you feel as if he made his case for a second term? >> i think we have 36 days to continue to make the case. i believe that a very good case has been made up to this point. that our better future is ahead of us. it's not behind us. and whatever the stylistic

points, do believe one of the things that was very clear last night is these candidates differ in the approach of how to make the economy grow and expand for the middle class. and he subscribed to the theory that greater tax cuts will subscribe for greater deficits. so i thought that was a clear contrast. i thought medicare was a clear contrast. we have two more rounds to go in the debate. >> on social security there were a lot more liberal watchers and supporters of the president. very upset with how he threw it out there saying we have to do something about it. that's not mainstream opinion in the democratic party. >> i believe he says we have to tweak it from time to time. indeed we do as population bubbles come and go.

i think they're overreacting a little bit. let's be honest here. a lot of people in the democratic party base really wanted to see the president go out and poke him in the eye and tear off his face. >> i think they want to hear the number 47%. why didn't we hear that? >> i think that the 47% -- look, i'm not part of the debate strategy. but for the last several weeks everybody is asking how the heck could romney govern the entire country when he's so dismissive of 47% of us and say we're all leeches. >> you seem a little perplexed that 47% didn't come up. >> oh, i don't know. i think that what the president needed to do last night was to keep press iing governor romneyn the other lack of specifics. once we get over the stylistic

reviews and critiques, we have to come back to the point that we're 36 days away tr the election. governor romney put forward the proposal with a magic wand to reduce taxes for the very wealthy among us and yet won't tell us how to pay for it. i think it's remarkable and a test of the discerning members to let him say eat cake, lose weight and trust me behind door number three there's a secret plan that i'll put in place. >> democratic governor mark o'malley, chairman of the democratic governors association. thanks for getting up early this morning. >> thank you. >> the weekly jobless claim numbers are in. markets are just opening. quick check of the market rundown. becky quick is here. becky, what do we expect? jobs day tomorrow. >> yes, a huge day tomorrow. this is a little bit of a preamble. the numbers don't go into the

monthly number. but slightly better than expected number. and i mean very slight. it came in at 360,000 for the jobless claims. analysts were looking for 370. but it's all about tomorrow, chuck. the huge monthly jobs number from the government. the expectation is 113,000 jobs created for the month. that is going to be key. last month came in at 96,000. so this is a key number. it is the ultimate number before the election. so people will be watching this very closely and also watching the unemployment rate. we'll see what happens tomorrow. this morning the futures are higher. just opening now with the dow up 40 points. hard to say if the debate had any impact on that last night. again, we've been looking at the numbers up as much as 60 points. up 40 for the dow.

and i'll send it back to you. >> becky quick, thank you very much. our colorado close-up. now one of the truest battlegrounds in the country. tom brokaw is going to join me f. today's deep dive while i'm out in colorado. belt weather county.

the landscape has shifted big time since george w. bush won the state by nine points in 2000 and by five in 2004. john kerry pulled plans for tv ads a month before the election when it was clear the state was out of reach. colorado picked democrats for president. just twice since 1950. and bill clinton in 1992 when perot took a slew of votes. until john mccain lost by nine points in 2008. michael bennet had the year's most expensive senate race. democrats now hold the governship. driven by a few things. an influx of highly educated west coast transplants. the state is younger and more diverse. more hispanic. the population is up by 20% since 2000 to more than 5 million. latinos now account for 21% of

the population. president obama's strategy is repeating what he did in 2008. his margin of victory was 142,000 votes. 46,000 more votes than kerry got in 2004. they'll also vote on swing accounts that use to be republican. obama put on six counties that bush carried in 2004. including jefferson county. arapahoe. as jefferson county goes, so goes the nation. again, president bush won in 2004 by 9,000 votes. obama won there by more than 34,000 votes. but in 2010 again with a much

tighter race. romney's strategy depends on winning the suburbs as well as driving up margins with social conservatives and active military and veterans in colorado springs and the rural areas of the state and doing well with voters here. the swing county like the state as a whole has become more hispan hispanic. colorado is 18% latino. that's up from 11.8% in 2000. the question is whether they cast ballots this time around. so how do voters in denver's swing suburbs known for being independent thinkers feel about the candidates? tom bro ka talked with a bunch of undecided voters in the great swing county, jefferson county. the county seen there is golden, colorado. and asked what will make the difference in their vote.

>> i feel like i have to make a decision on the progress of my family and moving them forward versus all of women's rights out there. because i don't feel like we're making progress, i'm leaning more towards the republican side. >> >> absolutely. i'm more on the republican side. on the other hand. he's also that attacking medicare. >> whoever wins first day in office. what's the most important thing to do? >> i would like to hear they will cross partisan lines and sit down and solve the problem. >> these colorado independents, tom, are fascinating. they sort of are the stereo type independent voters we keep saying exists. >> they play up the middle of the road. they're not playing left and center. the governor is talking about his ability to reach across party lines in the legislature and get things done.

i think it was clear that in the debate, maybe they got to it late, is i did not get a sense of how they would deal with the party line issue, which came up a lot in your conversation at jefferson county. >> it did. when governor romney said he could get the medicare in. why the president didn't turn to him and say, have you dealt with your own party in the congress? and see if you can get that done there. it's a whole different ball game when you get to washington. >> and it's funny. that brings up the debate. no retorts like that from president obama. what do you make of the fact that we are now -- it's basically a fact now. four of the last five sitting presidents in the first presidential debate watched the challengers clean the clock. >> actually, i think this is good for the country, chuck. the reason i think it's good for the country is it will engage

the country. there were big ideas last night. some of them imperfectly articulated and not well defended in some instances. they are talking about the issues on the minds of a lot of american people. and so i think this morning we have a kickstart to the presidential campaign. if it had been romney performing like the president, it would have been over. >> it's interesting. what do you make of this? is it the issue with a sitting president not used to being challenge. it's been a long time. what do you think it is? >> i don't think it counts. this is the most important debate of the campaign. >> et it together. >> get it together. you're the president of the united states. you have all the resources to draw on. he's been in nevada preparing for it. and then he showed up, or didn't show up, depending on your point of view, and was inadequate. it seemed if he had shown up for a morning briefing at the white house in july of this year on a

thursday, he would have been more engaged than he was last night. >> you were with the jefferson county voters. how do you think they reacted to the debate? >> well, my guess is they got a lot of detail, which is what they are looking for from romney. and the two business owners. one was in commercial real estate. therm leaning in that direction. i wouldn't be surprised if they moved that way. with the support that exists for both candidates is still kind of soft. >> softer than people realize. tom brokaw, we'll see you. maybe danville. with round one done, the political panel joins me here in denver for a look at where the race goes. soup of the day. today we need chicken noodle. . check out the facebook page for

a behind the scenes look at the show from here at the debate side. a beautiful campus. thank you, university of denver. this has been terrific. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

you know, last night wasn't one of the most substantive debate we've seen in recent history. it was also the most civilized. check this out. >> congratulations to you, mr. president. obama care is on my list. i use that term with all respect. >> i like it. >> good. >> governor romney and i both agree the tax rate is too high. >> the president mentioned a couple of other ideas. first, education. i agree. education is key. >> i agree that the democratic legislators in massachusetts might have given advice to republicans in congress about how to cooperate.

bring in the panel. former senator hank brown, also cochair for the romney campaign out here. senator brown, let me start with you on the civil tone. everybody is so nice. i assume that plays well no matter what side you're on. >> absolutely. colorado is socially moderate. fiscally very conservative. it plays very well in the state. >> were you surprised how civil it was? >> it was. >> it was nasty on the airwaves. >> we sat through a lot of republican debate where is it got very nasty very quickly on the stage. it seems like both camps were very careful to tell the candidate, okay, don't lecture. that was worked on both sides. don't be peevish. >> i don't understand the obama campaign was coming out and no, no, no. not overly so. >> they prepared for three days

for this in the las vegas area. you don't want to engage too much. unfortunately the president missed a couple of opportunities where he should have. >> senator, i had three colorado governors on yesterday. now i have a fourth one. you survived. >> i survived. i know. and i'll ask the same question. i'll ask it to you. what makes colorado the quintessential swing state? >> colorado is an extraordinary state. everybody here is from somewhere else, or almost everybody. so you have a mixture of backgrounds. but this state thrives on fiscal responsibility. it will be a big issue, and it will help romney. he's socially moderate. >> did that hurt romney a little bit? >> yes. yes. and it's why it's so close in the state. normally you have a slight republican advantage. you have a trend to republican and the registration. and it really is within the margin of error now. >> and he brings up the colorado

fiscally conservative, socially moderate. what you heard about virginians described similarly, for instance. and yet the president didn't want to emphasize any of the contrasts at all. didn't hear the words 47% bain c. >> it seemed like he was very focused on playing it safe. like david said. i think there was a mised opportunity on the -- in the president's camp. i think it's why you didn't see any obama -- one of the reasons you didn't see any surrogates right away. >> they were the last ones to leave. usually the people that leave last are the ones that had the harder job to do. let's be realistic. >> right. >> senator, i want to go back to something on the governing side. were you surprised that governor romney thrdrew such a line in t sand saying i'm going to take one avenue away completely, taxes. mistake? >> it's understandable from the republican experience in the past three decades.

ronald reagan made a deal with tip o'neil. it was for tax increases and spending control. >> hurt republicans when they ran for office, didn't it? >> they got the tax increases. they didn't get spending cuts. he got the tax increases ch he didn't get the spending cuts. >> do you think it was a governing mistake. if he gets elected president, is he going to regret that? >> i think the crisis we face financially is so severe that all the discussion of finances last night, you can fergs. we don't have the money to expand the military. we don't have the money you have to overhaul sos to keep it sound. >> he wants to spend more money in the military. do you think that's a mistake? >> the money isn't there. >> david, this is where the obama campaign wants to go. it's saying, yes, we lost on

style. but romney made himself -- i mean, senator, it's a complicated argument he's making on these issues. >> absolutely. and it's going to make sense after the the election. we're facing a fiscal cliff. all the consumers will come into play. and i obama campaign is going to say, look at what the president said, but i think it will get lost in the after analysis. >> that's okay. somebody just wrote the thing. it is too early to write off obama. i'm not kidding. an actual headline in an all publication, i'll not going to out the publication, but the headliner needs to be scolded. stick around, we have more to do. we asked, since 1960 how many times has colorado not voted for the presidential win her? hank brown, did you know the answer? >> we made a mistake last time. >> it was three times. each of the times colorado picked a republican but the white house went to a democrat. colorado voted for dole, one of two states dole flipped.

do you have a trivia question you think should be on the show? e-mail us. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] the first look...is only the beginning. ♪ ♪ introducing a stunning work of technology. ♪ introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you?

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let's bring back our panel, jackie kucinich, david brown and david macnamara. the traveling show goes to danville next. it is like the a's lost game one of the series. now there's a lot of pressure on. >> there's a lot of pressure on joe biden. that can be dangerous because he tends to get over his skis, but i think he'll be well prepared and they will be a lot more aggressive this go-around.

>> you served with joe biden, what would be your advice to paul ryan. a lot of republicans seem overconfident how well ryan will do against ryan. mistake? >> the question that ryan has strong appeal, particularly in the midwest, just his personality, joe is joe. the slip-ups that you see are ones that were regular part of the menu when he was chair of the foreign relations committee and later chair of the judiciary. but it will be entertaining. joe is always entertaining. and i think you're going to see a very substantive debate with ryan. he is a master of factual presentations and i think you'll see a solid debate on the budget. >> jackie, one of the things i like to remind people, joe biden won almost all the debates over hillary and edwards. >> look what he did with the sarah palin debate last cycle. everyone thought that could have been a disaster and it wasn't. if he can prepare for these things, don't underestimate joe biden.

>> the show is almost over and i'm getting tired. >> look for today's reaction of obama's speech later today. >> miss kucinich. >> usa's team last night for the debate, susan page, everybody back at the office, you did a great job. go team. >> senator brown, give me your shameless plug. >> you know, the reality is this race is right down to the wire, but romney last night showed he was a master of the facts. and the president surprisingly, i counted a dozen factual misstatements, really has to do his homework. >> i always want to thank the university of denver, du, i don't understand why you folks are in colorado, called the university of colorado cu and the university of denver, du, but a wonderful campus. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." i'm hitting the road with the president. see you at points from madison. coming up next, chris jansing. bye-bye. [ male announcer ] this is rudy.

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